LISTEN: South Africans ‘should be very concerned’ about data breaches
Senior Director for Technical Support at Mimecast, Heino Gevers, says South Africa’s complex financial system makes it a prime target for hackers.
Gevers said South Africans are prime targets for cyber security attacks like ransomware, malware, insider threats, and phishing.
“What is more interesting is the South African information regulator, which consumers and, of course, industries or institutions have an obligation to report any form of data breach. They receive an average of 150 data breach notifications a month. Which obviously exemplifies the fact that South Africa's actually quite a prime target for cyberattacks.”
He said when these attacks target companies or public institutions, they also compromise people’s private information.
In 2023, the country suffered about 56 data breaches a month.
In the latest high-profile case, the National Health Laboratory Service suffered a massive security breach some two weeks ago.
Gevers said there is no magic link to determine whether you are completely safe, but he did recommend going to www.haveibeenpwned.com to find out whether your data could have been part of a data breach.
LISTEN: Tips to keep you safe & how to know if you could have been hacked
